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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278585">A Monument to love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysteriousasthedarksideofthemoon/pseuds/Mysteriousasthedarksideofthemoon'>Mysteriousasthedarksideofthemoon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Monuments [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, Historical, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:28:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,115</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysteriousasthedarksideofthemoon/pseuds/Mysteriousasthedarksideofthemoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico attempts to make a painting for Yusuf, who adores it despite having no idea what it is.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia &amp; Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Monuments [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105373</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>130</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Monument to love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! This is my attempt at historical, fluff, with Joe x Nicky and found family feels for the Old Guard Gift Exchange, for odyssxus. It is my first attempt at historical or fluff so I hope it is not too terrible!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>“Nico, oh my heart, it’s beautiful. One of the most captivating works of art I have ever had the privilege of seeing. It takes my breath away.”</p><p>“Truly?” Nico asked with a small smile.</p><p>They were stood in the drawing room of their beautiful Florentine home. It was the second place that they truly felt was their home, Malta would always be the first. Everything from the blue, white and green patterns painted on the walls to the carefully carved wooden chairs at the dining table was picked or made by them.</p><p>The large window behind Yusuf shined on the picture still sitting on its easel. It was the result of a year of Nico’s hard work and frustration. Nico stood slightly behind it off to the side, hands tightly clasped behind his back, standing a little too stiffly for it to be natural.</p><p>“Truly.” Yusuf said as he walked forward and held his hand out, Nico instantly walked forward and accepted it, the tension in his body falling away at the merest of his heart’s touch. Yusuf brought the hand up to his mouth kissing the palm before using it to gently turn him towards his own picture.</p><p>“I would like to hang it just there, so that it is the first sight I see when I come home weary and need comfort and the last I see to give me strength before I have to leave our paradise. There is only one other sight which could be an improvement.”</p><p>“A bowl of Tajine?” Nico suggested with a playful smile.</p><p>“No, I would smell that before I saw it and even that could not compare.”</p><p>“The new Botticelli painting?”</p><p>“No, no painting of Angels, could compare to the beauty I am referring to.” Yusuf carefully brushed back a strand of Nico’s hair which had fallen forward when he turned around to speak. He let his hand rest there as he continued to speak, “they are beautiful and graceful, I am in awe of them, but nothing in this world,” he moves his hand down slowly, thumb brushing Nico’s cheekbone, “or any other,” his hand gently trails down to cup his chin, “not the sun, or stars or moon,” he lightly brushes his thumb over his lower lip, “could ever compare to you, my love, you are the only sight I could not live a day without.”</p><p>Nico kisses his thumb before gently bringing their foreheads together. It was a gesture they had developed during their earliest years, there were the barest touches of the hands that neither of them would allow himself to think about for too long, then came the hugs, usually congratulatory, after fighting off bandits or winning a contest, the cuddling at night, was of course simply to share body heat, neither ever truly convinced himself of that in the slightest, but the forehead touch was different. It was necessary but only for comfort, it told each man that the other was truly there, that they were both still alive, still with each other, still connected. It was a confirmation. A silent ‘I love you’ before they ever said it aloud.</p><p>“What could I have ever done to deserve you, my love?” Nico asked softly moving a hand to Yusuf’s cheek, stroking the smooth skin above his beard. The other hand resting lightly over his sun’s heart.</p><p>“Everything you do, every day, my moon.” Yusuf responded as they both leaned in for a kiss.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>“This is new.” Quynh said as she walked into their home. Her and Andromache lived on the floor above them, while the shop that the four of them ran together was below. It was a convenient arrangement. It meant that Andromache and Quynh wandered into Yusuf and Nico’s pantry whenever they were hungry, while wine from Andromache and Quynh’s home mysteriously appeared in Yusuf and Nico’s.</p><p>After such a long time together, they had planned to split up for a few years but after four months Andromache and Quynh returned claiming that Florence was simply the most interesting city at the time and Yusuf and Nico claimed that they needed help with their business. None of them had to admit the truth out loud, it was clear to them all.</p><p>“Did you paint it?” Andromache added coming to a stop next to Quynh.</p><p>“No, Nico painted it for me, as a present.” Yusuf said wistfully.</p><p>Quynh opened her mouth before closing it and tilting her head slightly. Hoping that if she examined the painting from a different angle, everything would become clear. It did not.</p><p>“What is it?” She asked without preamble.</p><p>“He spent months painting this, he’s very proud of it, I am too.”</p><p>“That is the reason I am asking you, before he comes home.”</p><p>“It is a beautiful piece of art, created with love and care, for me, by the person I love most in this world.”</p><p>“You do not know, do you?” Andromache asked, without taking her eyes away from the picture. It was phrased as a question but the three of them all knew the answer.</p><p>“I have no notion of what it could possibly depict. I thought perhaps some sort of bird, but that doesn’t explain what this part could be.” He said gesturing to the middle part of the painting, careful not to touch it.</p><p>“I think it’s an ear and that part is the head.” Quynh guessed, pointing to the left of Yusuf’s hand.</p><p>“Then what could that bit be?”</p><p>“A second head? Perhaps there are two animals?”</p><p>“It could be you two.” Andromache suggested with a smirk.</p><p>“Take that back!” Yusuf said in outrage as Quynh giggled. Andromache only smiled at him in response before walking further into the home. Quynh followed with a shrug at Yusuf. It couldn’t be, he thought as he looked at the painting with a frown, he didn’t pose for it and even if he had, surely the painting could not depict people. Nico was no great artist but, he could paint people better than that. It was a bird, he once again decided as he moved away into the main room, ready to stop his sisters from raiding too much from the pantry, he had haggled for ten minutes for those figs.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>Nico trudged upstairs, glad for the working day to be done. He had spent the last twenty minutes arguing with an arrogant minor noble that a piece of velvet was dark blue and not black. He paused after walking through the open doorway.</p><p>Yusuf was stood nearby staring at the painting as if it was the most difficult mathematical problem he had ever come across. He sighed as he stepped closer towards it. Nico closed the door quietly.</p><p>Yusuf looked at the doorway guiltily.</p><p>“You do not know what it is?” Nico asked quietly.</p><p>“I do, of course I do.”</p><p>“My love,” Nico began as he crossed the room coming to a stop just in front of Yusuf, reaching out to rest his hands on either side of his face softly caressing his skin. Yusuf’s hands instinctively found their way to Nico’s waist before Nico began speaking. “My soul, light of my life, you used to be much better at lying to me.” He says as a little smile graces the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“You are not saddened by the possibility of me not, quite, understanding every facet of your vision?” Yusuf asked carefully searching his moon’s eyes, making sure that not even a hint of disappointment was present.</p><p>Nico simply smiled wider and leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the lips, soft lips only meeting for a few seconds before moving his face back slightly.</p><p>“No. I knew it was terrible, but I made a commitment, I promised you a painting, I had to show you why I had been spending all my time trapped in that awful room without you.”</p><p>“You were hardly ‘trapped’. I would have gladly welcomed you back a minute after you went in there, with or without a picture.” Yusuf said unable to keep the obvious fondness from his voice. He had spent too many afternoons hoping that Nico would come out of the little room that he was painting in, before coming to Florence they had spent the vast majority of their lives travelling together and while Yusuf loved sharing a home together, having a space that was unequivocally theirs, a part of him had started to miss the constant closeness of a life of travel.</p><p>After four days of barely seeing Nico, Yusuf would have gladly accepted a painting comprised of a single dot of black paint and been so deliriously happy he truly would have believed it to be the greatest piece of art ever created by man because it meant he had his heart back.</p><p>“I know, but I wanted to give you something special, something beautiful, similar to the presents that you make for me.”</p><p>“You make my whole world beautiful. My moon, you have already given me the most beautiful gifts I could ever receive, your trust, your body,” his hand lightly moved up Nico’s side coming to rest on his chest. “Your heart, your soul and a true home for my own.”</p><p> Nico’s heart skipped a beat. He should be more used to words like these, they were so freely gifted over the last three centuries. They no longer made him incoherent but they never failed to have the same effect on his heart beat.</p><p>“Everything is exactly where it belongs,” Nico murmurs placing his hand over the one Yusuf has resting over his heart and stroking it before lifting it to his lips and pressing a reverent kiss to the palm. “Except that ugly painting.” Nico gently disentangled himself from Yusuf as he turned and stepped towards the painting.</p><p>Yusuf’s expression changed instantly, the dreamy look in his eye replaced with a look of shock as he launched himself towards the painting standing in front of it protectively.</p><p>“No, I love that ug-, this painting.”</p><p>Nico laughed as he rolled his eyes and said with exaggerated patience. “Yusuf, you do not know what it is.”</p><p>“It is a painting that makes me happy.” He said inching to his left, a slightly better position to protect the painting from.</p><p>“What if it depicts something horrible? You would not want such a picture in our home, would you?” Despite them having a disagreement the use of the phrase ‘our home’ created a wonderful warm feeling in their chests.</p><p>“You would never make me something horrible, to display in our home, whatever it depicts is beautiful.” Yusuf says triumphantly as Nico side steps to his right and Yusuf mirrors him instinctively.</p><p>“My soul, it is awful, it does not match any of the walls or rugs or the other fine art work which we chose together.” Nico says while feigning a step to his left another to his right before actually leaping to his left.</p><p>“It should not, it is special.” Yusuf responds as he just manages to block Nico from touching the corner of the painting, by placing his body between them, a cocky grin sliding onto his face as his feet slid to a stop in front of Nico.</p><p>“I can do this for centuries.” Yusuf brags. Nico narrows his eyes at him light-heartedly, he looks into his deep brown eyes, they are alight, with determination, ever-present love shining through and a spark of playfulness winking at him. The corners crinkled in mirth. The curve of his soft lips, draws Nico’s eyes, the challenge obvious in his cocky grin. It evokes hundreds of years’ worth of memories, teasingly sparring verbally or physically, always a perfect match for each other, always inevitably ending in a similar way. Nico was helpless to change this pattern, as he felt his heart beat faster, he had no desire to do so.</p><p>“As can I,” Nico says with a deliberate look at Yusuf’s lips as he moves closer, stopping agonizingly close to him, almost touching. “I have a proposal,” his breath ghosted along Yusuf’s jaw and he was now whispering into his ear as Yusuf made a questioning little noise. “I take you to our bed-“</p><p>“Yes.” Yusuf agreed immediately as he felt Nico grin against his throat. Nico had to place a kiss there before he continued talking.</p><p>“And I will give you three guesses, as to what the painting is, if you guess right, it stays exactly where it is, if not I can choose it’s fate.”</p><p>“Agreed.” Yusuf replied quickly, as the two hurried to their bedroom.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>“And you are sure you cannot convince him to give you one more day to guess?” Quynh asked.</p><p>“Yes, he added that part when I was distracted. I have one more day and one more guess.” Yusuf said as he leaned closer to the painting. It still looked like an oddly proportioned bird to him. Despite Nico claiming that ‘some sort of bird’ was a vague guess he had confirmed that it in fact was not. The look on his face when Yusuf had used his second guess of people was enough confirmation that Yusuf was once again mistaken.  </p><p>He had recruited Quynh and Andromache to help. Quynh had been sitting with him offering suggestions while Andromache had been given the job of distracting Nico and keeping him out of the home. Yusuf had even gotten so desperate that he resorted to asking an artist friend of theirs for his input. Yusuf had never seen Leonardo look so confused. He had guessed dolphins.</p><p>He could still not understand how he had come to that conclusion. One of the things that made the painting difficult to understand was that the colours of the things in the middle did not seem to correspond to any living creatures he had ever seen, but he was sure they were animals.</p><p>He sighed despite having no idea what they were meant to be he really did love them. Quynh said that they looked quite disturbing but that was probably because they seemed to have sharp teeth, she thought they looked angry, he thought they were just smiling.</p><p>“You really do like it?” Quynh asks as she watches him smile at the ugly monsters.</p><p>“I do.” He replies wistfully.</p><p>“And Nico would not really care if it stays here, it would not embarrass him?”</p><p>“No, of course not, I would not want to keep it here if it did, it’s more of a game to him and he thinks that it does not match anything.”</p><p>“Then dear brother, I have some advice.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>It was tradition for the immortals to buy new outfits once a year for the biggest festival, it was also a tradition for the couples to surprise each other with their outfits but they still wanted to match. This meant that this year Andromache was picking Nico’s and he was picking hers. All she had left to do was find him a hat. Two hours ago, it had seemed so simple.</p><p>“How long are you expected to keep me here for?” Nico asked as Andromache placed another hat on top of his head, this time it was blue with a white feather.</p><p>“You shall be the most fortunate man in Florence blessed with my company until sunset.” She said as she tilted the hat again, it was now quite lopsided over Nico’s left eye due to his insolence. He glared at her as best he could.</p><p>“I would be a more fortunate man if you did not always agree with Yusuf.” He says playfully.</p><p>“You both always say that. I do not have a favourite. Although, Yusuf is much better to go hat shopping with, a delight even, that is not why I agree with him this time.” She says replacing the soft blue hat with a slightly larger green one.</p><p>“You like that atrocity?” Nico asks, in disbelief.</p><p>“It is not terrible. It is not magnificent either but you know I favour the subjects. It does not matter what I think, it was not gifted to me.” She emphasises the last word as she gives up trying to arrange the hat and puts it back.</p><p>“Andromache, he does not even know what it is, you are the only one who seems to. He has been staring at it for days and he thinks it is of people!”</p><p>Andromache scoffs. “It really is quite clear, if you look at it for a few moments.”</p><p>“Exactly, he just does not want to hurt my feelings, it does not matter how many times I tell him that we can take it down, he will not admit how much he dislikes it. That is why I have to do it.”</p><p>“Why are you so sure he dislikes it?” Andromache asks as she picks up a yellow hat with a green feather.</p><p>“Because I have seen it.” Nico says as he expertly dodges her hands as though she was holding a snake. “No yellow.”</p><p>Andromache never one to back away from a challenge makes a few more attempts, joining Nico in laughter as she almost succeeds, lunging forward quickly and almost sending Nico toppling over the side of a nearby cart. They only stop when the stall owner comes over.</p><p>She holds her hands up placatingly, both apologise before returning the hat and walking to the next market stall. She picked up the next hat she saw and noticed Nico’s eyes light up, it was a smaller hat, black with a golden pattern of circles stitched around the side and a black feather protruding from the side. It definitely would not have been her first choice for him, it certainly did not bring out his eyes in the way that some of the others had. She smiled as she placed it on his head, this time more carefully and without any resistance from Nico.</p><p>“You see brother, when you give someone a gift it does not matter if you like it. You should not be looking at the gift, you should be looking at the person receiving it.”</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>Yusuf walks impatiently in front of the painting, stopping at each end to study it before taking a few steps back and squinting. Nico leans against the wall behind him, arms crossed, watching patiently. Yusuf turns towards him, opens his mouth and closes it again before turning back to the painting.</p><p>“Yusuf, my love just guess.”</p><p>“No, I have more time.”</p><p>“You do, but it will not change anything.”</p><p>An hour passed. Yusuf was struggling to decipher the painting during the daylight, he had no hope of doing it by candle light.</p><p>Nico came to his side and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder. Yusuf leaned into him and spoke into his shoulder.</p><p>“Dolphins?”</p><p>He felt Nico laugh as a hand gently stroked through his hair.</p><p>“No love.”</p><p>Yusuf mumbled something indistinguishable against his chest.</p><p>“Pardon?”</p><p>Yusuf lifted his head to look Nico directly in the eye as he spoke.</p><p>“This is my chair.” He said hesitantly as Nico’s hand immediately stopped moving. Recognition flickered across Nico’s face. Yusuf was glad at least one of them knew what it meant, Quynh had not explained properly.</p><p>“Your chair?” Nico attempted to ask lightly. It was too late, Yusuf knew that Nico knew the meaning behind the words.</p><p>“Yes, it is and I shall be keeping it, where it is.” Yusuf says confidently.</p><p>“If that is your wish.” Nico relents.</p><p>“Wait, that is all you have to say?” Yusuf asks, trying to sound less confused than he is.</p><p>“Yes, you win.” Nico replies with a pat on the shoulder he is still holding. That was too much. After hundreds of years of being together, Nico had never uttered those two specific words, neither of them had.</p><p>“Tell me what ‘the chair’ means.”</p><p>“It means our sisters are in trouble, was it Quynh or Andromache or both?”</p><p>“Quynh, now that I have told you that, tell me what it means or I will ask her again.”</p><p>Nico gave him a sort of appraising look before making a decision and leaning closer to him. His hand began gently stroking Yusuf’s curls again as his body moved closer lightly pressing against Yusuf’s in the most delightfully familiar way, it was full of promise, as was the expression on his face as he began speaking.</p><p>“My heart, I have a proposal-“</p><p>“No.” Yusuf says quickly disentangling them. He also took a step back for good measure. It took hardly any effort for Nico to distract him, he had to concentrate, if he was within reach, Yusuf knew that his resolve would crumble.</p><p>“Tell me, Nico, please.” Nico’s face softened slightly at the last word.</p><p>“If that is what you wish. Do you remember making that beautiful wooden chair, the special one, for me? You even carved our names onto two of the legs.” He does remember it well; it still sits in their home. He spent many months crafting it, carving the specific little details of their life into the wood, the loveliest patterns carved into the sides, the moon and the sun on the back and the arms. It was simpler than he expected, the wood was soft, he was able to carve it beautifully.</p><p>“Yes, I remember.”</p><p>“Well, it broke, the moment I sat on it.”</p><p>“What? It did not, I was there. It is over there, working perfectly well.”</p><p>“Yes, it did, the arm came off while you were out of the room and I held it there.”</p><p>“The first time you sat in it?” Yusuf asks as he rushes over to the chair to inspect it. Nico nods in response.</p><p>“When the four of us were having dinner?” He asks as he examines fresh marks on the chair, ones that he knows where not made by him. He receives another nod from Nico.</p><p>“My heart, we were sat there for hours.” Yusuf says fondly.</p><p>“I remember, it was a long time. The left arm came off first then a leg broke near the end and Quynh and Andromache propped it up with their feet because I asked them to.”</p><p>“Is that why it was so hard to make them return to their own home? I thought they just wanted more free food.”</p><p>“Yes, they stayed to help.” Nico said with a laugh. “They have helped me repair it every time. They practically rebuilt the whole chair. You worked so hard on making every intricate detail perfect for me, you were so proud of it and I thought if you found out you would want to get rid of the whole thing. I love my chair.”</p><p>Yusuf’s face softened. “You can tell me anything, always, but this means you understand why I want to keep my painting.”</p><p>“Because you think I will feel rejected if you do not.” Yusuf frowns at this.</p><p>“No, because I love my painting. Because the man I love more than life, the one who brings more light into my life than the sun and the stars, the one who is more beautiful than moon and the sea, the man with a heart full of kindness and thoughtfulness which he uses every day to make the world a little brighter, used his beautiful hands,” Yusuf reaches one hand up to hold the one Nico still has wrapped around his shoulders and reaches out with the other to hold Nico’s right hand turning it over and stroking the palm. “To work on a painting, for me, for months, to sit in a little room mixing colours and carefully painting every single stroke, even though it must have nearly driven him mad.”</p><p>“It did, I snapped two paintbrushes and none of the colours look the way they should.” Nico muttered with a small smile as they both chuckled and Nico dropped his head forward to lean it against Yusuf’s.</p><p>“But you persisted.”</p><p>“How could I not? I promised the love of my life.”</p><p>“Then it is a monument of your love for me.”</p><p>Nico moves his head back slightly so that he can look Yusuf in his beautiful, warm, brown eyes. He knew by looking at him that his love was in this moment utterly guileless, he really did treasure his unsightly gift more than he would a million masterpieces created by the best artists in the world.</p><p>“That is why I want it to stay.” Nico says pressing a soft kiss to Yusuf’s forehead.</p><p>“Will you tell me what those creatures are?” Yusuf asks softly.</p><p>“No, but you have centuries to guess.” Nico says with a grin.</p>
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